visitor is at once impressed with the lightness and delicacy of the
work before him, as compared with the massive grandeur of the
Norman cathedral behind. Here we have, in fact, one of the latest
uses of the round arch influenced by the rapidly developing Early
English Gothic. In plan the chapel consists of a nave with double
aisles, which perhaps might be more properly called five aisles.
These are divided by arcades, each of which is of four bays. These
arches and the columns which support them are the chief beauty and
characteristic of the chapel. The arches are semicircular, of one
order, with three lines of chevrons, one on each face, and one on
the soffit between two roll mouldings. The capitals are light and
graceful and carved with a volute, and the columns clusters of
marble and freestone shafts. The whole seems to have been coloured
in fresco, and remains of this are still to be seen. The stone
shafts, which alternate with those of marble, do not carry any of
the weight of the arch, and are, undoubtedly, an addition, probably
in the time of Cardinal Langley, when they must have been added,
with a view to improving the appearance. The dimensions of the
chapel are forty-seven feet from east to west, and seventy-six
feet from north to south. The existing roof and the three
Perpendicular windows on the west end are also additions by
Cardinal Langley. On the walls above what were once the altars of
the Virgin and Our Lady of Pity, remains of fresco painting may be
noticed, all that remains of what has evidently been beautiful
work. These were only brought to light by the removal of successive
coats of whitewash with which they had been covered.”--(J. E. B.)
The two doorways at the end of the north aisle and south aisle of the
nave were made by Cardinal Langley, who closed up the great =West door=,
reopened in 1846. This was built by Flambard (1099-1128) and consists of
an arch of four orders decorated with chevrons. Grotesque animals also
appear in medallions. Langley also made a new roof, for which he raised
the walls.
In front of the principal altar stands =Langley’s Tomb=, erected by
himself; but of far more interest is the resting-place of a greater man.
No visitor can look upon the stone slab that marks the grave of the
=Venerable Bede= without awe. Bede, so famed for his learning and piety,
was a contemporary of St. Cuthbert and spent his long life chiefly in
the monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. He died in 735 and was
buried at Jarrow. In 1022 his remains were stolen and placed in the same
coffin with those of St. Cuthbert. Pudsey removed them into the new
Galilee Chapel. “There, in a silver casket gilt with gold, hee laid the
bones of Venerable Bede, and erected a costly and magnificent shrine
over it,” so the _Rites of Durham_ inform us. When the shrine was
destroyed in 1542, the bones were interred beneath the site of the
shrine and were left undisturbed until 1831, when they were exhumed,
examined, enclosed in a lead-lined coffin and replaced in the tomb.
“The most interesting monument here is the plain altar-slab which
marks the burial-place of the great Northumbrian scholar. On the
tomb are engraved the well-known words, _Hac sunt in fossâ Bedæ
Venerabilis ossa_ (In this grave lie the bones of the Venerable
Bede). According to the old legend the monk, who was casting about
for a word to complete the scansion of his line between _Bedæ_ and
_ossa_, left a space blank until he could in the morning return to
his task with a mind refreshed. However, during the night an
unknown hand added the metrically suitable _Venerabilis_. This,
according to the legend, is the origin of the peculiar preface
Venerable, always associated with the name of Bede.”--(T.)
There are few monuments and tombs in Durham Cathedral. The most
interesting is that of =Lord Ralph Neville= and his wife, =Lady Alice=, in
the south side of the nave. Unfortunately the effigies of 1367 and 1364
are much mutilated. Near them is the altar-tomb of =Lord John Neville=
(died, 1386), and his wife, the daughter of Lord Henry Percy, the famous
“Hotspur.” Their effigies are headless and mutilated, but traces of
colour and gilding are to be seen. The carving of the canopies is very
beautiful and between each of the niches are two square panels bearing
the arms of Neville and Percy.
We now come to the =transepts=. Each consists of two bays, with an aisle
on the eastern side, to which three steps lead. In these at one time
altars stood--to St. Nicholas and St. Giles, to St. Gregory and St.
Benedict in the north transept; and to St. Faith and St. Thomas the
Apostle, to Our Lady of Bolton and Our Lady of Houghhall, in the south
transept. A large window ornaments and lights each end.
The one in the north end is supposed to date from 1362. It is composed
of six lights, and the head shows late geometrical tracery. The transom
crossing the mullions is not visible from the outside. Below it a second
set of mullions supports a small gallery which leads to the triforium.
This window was repaired in 1512 and filled with glass of the period
representing its chief figures--St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Gregory
and St. Ambrose. Therefore it became known as =The Four Doctors of the
Church=. Prior Castell, who had charge of the repairs, placed himself
here kneeling before the Virgin. The opposite window, in the south end
of the transept, is called the =Te Deum=. It contains six lights and is
Perpendicular in style, dating between 1416 and 1446. There are
corresponding stairways in the north-west and south-west corners of the
transepts.
Now we come to the =Tower=, supported on four large Norman piers with
semicircular arches. We look above about seventy feet and see the first
story of the lantern with a gallery. Panels, grotesque heads, corbels,
crockets and finials and a string-course ornamented with the Tudor
flower give us plenty to study. Then come the windows, each with two
lights and divided by a transom, and, last of all, the handsome groined
roof with bosses on the ribs.
The =Choir= is the earliest part of the church. It contains Early Norman,
Early English and Early Decorated work. The two later styles occur in
the eastern part, and much beautiful detail is to be enjoyed. Where the
one leaves off and the other begins affords interesting study.
Carileph’s work is seen in the western bays. Arcades adorn the piers on
both sides of the choir. The lower row has six arches and the upper
three. All these are carved with foliage, heads and half figures. On
each pier of the upper arcade there is an angel under a canopy. The
vaulting dates from the Thirteenth Century. It is quadripartite. Square
leaves and the dog-tooth decorate the ribs. The bosses at the points of
intersection are very fine.
An altar-tomb with the effigy of =Bishop Hatfield= (1345-1381), beneath
the Bishop’s Throne, reminds us of the days when bishops were princes
and warriors. Hatfield led eighty archers to the siege of Calais; and
during his rule at Durham the battle of Neville’s Cross occurred (see
page 236). Such a magnificent bishop had to have a magnificent tomb; and
so, according to the custom of the day, he designed one for himself.
Here he lies beneath a canopy that once was bright with painting and
gilding. His effigy shows his splendid robes.
The =Screen=, separating the choir from the nave, dates from 1870-1876.
The =Choir-stalls= were made from 1660 to 1672 to replace the originals
destroyed by the Scottish prisoners incarcerated in the Cathedral in
1650 after the battle of Dunbar.
Above the high altar rises the splendid =Neville Screen=, erected about
1380 chiefly at the expense of John, Lord Neville of Raby. It runs along
the entire choir, and forms _sedilia_ of four seats on either side. The
screen was originally filled with 107 statues. The Virgin stood in the
centre, and one side of her was St. Cuthbert, and on the other St.
Oswald.
“The prior of the day employed at his own expense seven masons for
nearly a year to fix the screen, the execution of which is supposed
to have been the fruit of the labours of French artists. The screen
originally was much more elaborate than at present, being covered
with rich colour and every niche filled with sculptured figures,
but even now its present appearance is graceful.”--(T.)
The Neville screen is pierced by two doors that lead directly to the
=Shrine of St. Cuthbert= in the Chapel of the Nine Altars just behind it;
for in this chapel repose the bones of the patron saint. Facing the
great rose window there is an oblong platform (37 × 23 feet), about six
feet higher than the floor. The shrine was placed here in 1104 and
remained until 1540, when the body was taken from it and buried beneath
this spot.
The =Chapel of the Nine Altars= was so named because beneath the nine
lancet windows formerly stood nine altars to the following saints: (1),
St. Andrew and St. Mary Magdalen; (2), St. John the Baptist and St.
Margaret; (3), St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Catherine; (4), St.
Oswald and St. Lawrence; (5), St. Cuthbert and St. Bede; (6), St.
Martin; (7), St. Peter and St. Paul; (8), St. Aidan and St. Helen; (9),
St. Michael the Archangel.
“It is approached from the aisles by steps, the floor level being
lower than that of the church proper. It is altogether a remarkable
and interesting structure. With its lightness and loftiness
contrasting grandly with the massive Norman nave and choir, its
clustered columns of polished marble alternating with stone, its
fine bold sculpture, its splendid vaulted roof and rich arcading,
it forms a perfect example of the Early English style. Though
regular and symmetrical in general design, the detail shows great
variety, and even irregularity, a quality so often present in old
work, and so much to its advantage.
“The ‘New Work,’ as it was always called, was commenced in the year
1242. The eastern wall, with its rose and nine lancet windows, is
the earliest part of the chapel, the north and south walls being
later. The joining and blending of the work with the Norman of
Carileph’s choir had evidently been accomplished when the chapel
was almost completed. The eastern wall is of three bays, each bay
having three lofty lancet windows. The bays are not of equal width,
the centre one being regulated by the width of the nave of the
church, and narrower than the north and south bays.
“A very beautiful arcade runs completely round the walls. It is of
trefoil arches deeply and richly moulded, supported on marble
columns carved with foliage. Over the arches is a hood-mould
terminating with heads. In the spandrels are a series of deeply
sunk and moulded quatrefoils, two of which contain sculpture. The
bases of the columns rest on a plinth. Surmounting this arcade is a
moulded string from the level of which rise the windows, and above
the windows another string-course and a second range of windows. In
the centre bay, however, is the large rose window, which is over
thirty feet in diameter.
“The division of the chapel into three bays is effected by two main
vaulting arches, which spring on the western side from the piers of
the east end of the choir, and on the eastern side from responds of
clustered shafts alternately of marble and stone, banded at
intervals and having richly carved capitals. The arches themselves
are deeply moulded and ornamented with dog-tooth ornament and
foliage. The vault of the central bay has eight ribs--two springing
from each of the clusters just described, and two from each of the
choir piers. The vaulting of the remaining bays is quadripartite,
but has peculiarities which are worthy of notice, arising from
inequality of width. We must not omit to call attention to the
exquisite sculpture of the vaulting. The centre has figures of the
Four Evangelists, while in the north is a beautifully executed
carving of vine and grapes, and in the south, figure subjects.
Among the sculptured heads on the wall arcade at the south end, at
the western side of the two bays into which the south wall is
divided, are two which are portraits of the men to whom we owe the
design and execution of the beautiful sculpture of this chapel. One
is an elderly man, the other much younger, and both wear linen
dust-caps over their heads.”--(J. E. B.)
The rich and varied carving of the capitals of the vaulting-shafts and
vaulting-bosses will delight the lover of beautiful sculpture.
The beautiful Early Decorated north window of six lights was originally
filled with glass illustrating the history of Joseph. Hence it was
called =Joseph’s Window=. It is a particularly fine example of the tracery
of the period.
The two windows in the south end of this transept were once filled with
glass representing the life and miracles of St. Cuthbert. They show
tracery of the Perpendicular period. Each window is divided by a central
mullion and is widely splayed inwards.
The rose window over the lancets of the middle bay consists of an outer
circle of twenty-four and an inner circle of twelve radiating lights,
the mullions of which are received on a foliated circle in the centre.
This is Wyatt’s work, for, as we have seen, he removed the fine Early
English window from this place.
The =Cloisters= and the =Chapter-House= we find on the south side of the
Cathedral. The cloisters were begun in 1388-1406 and completed about
1438. They are much altered and restored. From them various halls of the
monks could be entered.
From the eastern alley we pass into the Chapter-House, a restoration of
what was considered the finest Norman Chapter-House in England when
Wyatt pulled it down.
[Illustration: DURHAM: NEVILLE SCREEN]
[Illustration: RIPON: SOUTH]
RIPON
DEDICATION: ST. PETER AND ST. WILFRID. FORMERLY A COLLEGIATE CHURCH
SERVED BY AUGUSTINIAN CANONS.
SPECIAL FEATURES: NAVE; ST. WILFRID’S NEEDLE; ROOD-SCREEN; EAST
WINDOW; CHOIR-STALLS.
Ripon did not become a cathedral until 1836. From the Eighth Century
until that date it was in the diocese of York, and the Archbishop of
York, having his throne in the choir, gave the church great importance.
Ripon monastery was established in the Seventh Century. The monks came
from Melrose Abbey on the Tweed and represented the Christianity that
was introduced into the north by way of Ireland through St. Columba’s
missionaries. Their great abbot was Wilfrid, who became Bishop of
Northumbria. In 669 he began a stone monastery, on the site, in all
probability, of the earlier one; and this was dedicated in 670 to St.
Peter. Wilfrid died in 709 and was buried in his church at Ripon.
Miracles took place at his tomb, which drew such large crowds that the
monks tried to restrain them. In 948, when Eadred was quelling a
rebellion in Northumbria, “was that famed minster burned at Ripon which
St. Wilfrid built.”
The next date of interest is the rebuilding of the church by Roger de
Pont l’Évêque (1154-1181), the great rival of Thomas à Becket. It was a
cruciform edifice; its nave was without aisles. Of this, the two
transepts, half of the central tower, and portions of the nave and
choir remain. Ripon is, therefore, one of the most important examples
extant of the transition from Norman to Early English.
Archbishop Walter de Gray (1216-1255) translated the relics of St.
Wilfrid to a new shrine in 1224.
The west front with its two towers was built about this time; and the
eastern part of the choir was rebuilt in the Decorated style by
Archbishop John Romanus (1286-1296).
The church was used as a refuge and fortress by the people of Ripon when
the Scots invaded it in 1317. Many necessary repairs were made under
Archbishop de Melton (1317-1340). The central tower fell in 1450 and had
to be rebuilt; also the east side of the south transept and the south
side of the choir. The present rood-screen and canopied stalls were
erected at the end of the Fifteenth Century. Then the nave was rebuilt;
but progress was delayed by the outbreak of a plague in 1506. St.
Wilfrid’s Shrine was demolished by Henry VIII. In 1593 the central spire
was injured by lightning. During the Civil Wars the Parliamentary
soldiers shattered the splendid glass of the east window and did other
damage. In 1660 the central spire fell and injured some of the canopies
of the choir-stalls; and, therefore, in 1664, the western spires were
removed for fear that they might fall also. Many repairs were made in
1829. Restorations on a large scale were undertaken by Sir Gilbert Scott
in 1862-1870.
The =West Front= is Early English. It has two square towers and a central
gable. String-courses divide the façade into four stages. In the first
are three doorways adorned with gables and crosses. The central door,
which is larger than the others, consists of five orders and five triple
shafts. The two others have three orders and three shafts. Some of the
mouldings are filled with the dog-tooth ornament. All three doors open
into the nave. Between the gables spouts issue from the heads of
animals. Above the doors comes a row of five lancet windows and above
them a group of three small lancets placed very high. The towers are
ornamented with arcades and lancets, buttresses, parapets and pinnacles.
The ten bells hang in the south tower.
The =Central Tower= is interesting because it is composed of two styles of
architecture. On the north and west sides it is Twelfth Century and on
the two others Perpendicular. The windows on all sides are round-headed.
The dog-tooth ornament appears in the moulding. Ripon, though finely
proportioned, is somewhat cold and severe in general appearance. The
north transept with its round-headed windows and its interesting
doorway, with a rather curious inner arch and capitals of carved
foliage, is a good example of the Twelfth Century. The south side of the
nave is preferred to the north side by critics. In the south transept we
have Archbishop Roger’s work again. The doorway is elaborate. The
foliage on the capitals of the columns approaches the Early English
style. The lintel is square. The south side of the choir is partly
hidden by the Chapter-House with the Lady-Loft above. The buttresses
that follow are of the Twelfth Century. The three western bays are
Perpendicular; the others, Decorated. The two flying-buttresses are like
those on the north side. Gargoyles appear at intervals along the string
of the roof. The east end is Decorated. Its chief feature is the
splendid window, of which the tracery alone remains.
Entering the west doorway we look upon one of the great naves of the
Perpendicular period, ranking next in size after York, Winchester,
Chichester and after St. Paul’s in width.
“Among very late Gothic buildings there are few indeed which are of
so good a quality as this nave of Ripon, which, like the late
church towers of Somerset, shows that Mediæval art took long to die
out in regions remote from London. It is, indeed, the architecture
of the days of Agincourt rather than of the eve of the English
Renaissance. The pillars are characteristic of the Perpendicular
style, their section being a square with a semicircle projecting
from each side, and the corners hollowed. Their bases have complex
plinths of considerable height and are polygonal, but follow
roughly the form of the pillar, and the mouldings, as usual in this
style, overhang the plinth. The capitals, with small mouldings and
many angles, are of somewhat the same form as the bases. On the
westernmost complete pillar of the north arcade are two shields,
charged respectively with the arms of Ripon (a horn) and of Pigott
of Clotherholme. The arches, instead of being of that depressed
form which is so common in late work, are very beautifully
proportioned, and their mouldings are bold, numerous and well-cut.
There is no triforium; but a passage, at a slightly lower level
than in Archbishop Roger’s bays, runs below the great clerestory
windows, which were once, no doubt, gorgeous with stained glass.
Their arches are moulded, but the splay is left plain. The
roof-shafts, which are in clusters of three and have fillets upon
them, spring from semi-octagonal corbels, and where each cluster
passes the string-course there is an angel holding a shield. A sign
of decadence may be found, perhaps, in the way in which the
hood-moulds of the windows intersect with these shafts. Though the
two sides of the nave are not quite of the same date, they are
almost alike, but for some slight differences in the capitals, the
arch-mouldings, and the hollows on the pillars; the builders
feeling, doubtless, that any marked variation would mar the general
perspective--a consideration which, of course, could not bind them
in designing the north aisle. The original Perpendicular roof may
have resembled that which now covers the transepts. About 1829
Blore put up an almost flat ceiling of deal. The present oaken
vault, by Sir Gilbert Scott, was copied from that of the transepts
of York Minster, and is adapted to the old roof-shafts, between
which have been added angel corbels of wood. As the ribs intersect
near their springing, they weave a network over the whole vault,
and the carved bosses at the intersections amount to 107. A passing
notice is merited by the pulpit, which is Jacobean.”--(C. H.)
The two great tower arches under the west towers are Early English;
those of the central tower are round. Their great piers are composed of
clusters of engaged shafts. Massive arches also mark the opening of each
aisle of the nave into the transept. In the south aisle stands a blue
marble =Font=, and near it an older one, probably of the Twelfth Century.
Tradition says that the altar-tomb here is that of an Irish prince who
brought home from Palestine a tame lion. On the bas-relief a lion, a
kneeling man and two birds are represented, which gives cause for the
story. The work is presumably of the Fourteenth Century. Above the font
we can see the only Mediæval glass in the Cathedral--fragments of
Fourteenth Century work left from the wreckage of the Puritan soldiers.
St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Andrew will easily be recognized. There is
also a shield bearing the English arms in this window. In the south wall
of the nave there is a fine =Piscina= dating from the Twelfth Century. At
this point we shall have to interrupt our walk through the Cathedral to
examine =St. Wilfrid’s Needle=, the popular name for the Saxon =Crypt=.
“From a trap-door in the pavement below the piscina a flight of
twelve steps winds down into a flat-roofed and descending passage
2½ feet wide and slightly over 6 feet high, which, running a few
feet northwards and bending at right angles round the south-west
tower pier, extends eastward for about 10 yards, with a descent of
one step near the end, and terminates in a blank wall. There is a
square-headed niche at the turn and a round-headed niche at the
end, both meant, doubtless, to hold lights. Three feet from the end
a round-headed doorway, 2 feet wide and over 6 feet high, opens
northwards with a descent of two more steps, into a barrel-vaulted
chamber, 11 feet 5 inches long from east to west, 7 feet 7 inches
wide and 9 feet 10 inches high. In the north wall of this chamber,
and approached by three wide steps, is the celebrated St. Wilfrid’s
Needle, a round-headed aperture pierced through into a passage that
runs behind. This aperture was connected with one of those
superstitions that so often flourished before the Reformation in
notable centres of religion, and ability to pass through it, or
‘thread the needle,’ was regarded as a test of female chastity; but
it was, of course, in the later middle ages that this superstition
arose, and the ‘needle’ (or rather needle’s eye) is evidently only
one of the original niches with the back knocked out. Of these
niches (which again were doubtless for lights) there are four in
the chamber besides the ‘needle,’--one in each wall,--and, like the
niche at the end of the passage of entrance, they all have
semicircular heads, each cut in a single stone. That in the west
wall has a hole or cup at the bottom, probably to hold oil in which
a wick might float, while the others (except the ‘needle’) have a
sort of funnel at the top, doubtless to catch the soot from
lamps.”--(C. H.)
The =North Transept= is a fine specimen of the transitional from Norman to
Early English, and is almost in its original condition. It is 34 feet
wide, or 52 feet including the aisle. Here we find a stone pulpit of the
Perpendicular period, its five
[Illustration: RIPON: NAVE, EAST]
[Illustration: RIPON: CHOIR, EAST]
sides embellished with panelling. At the north wall was probably
situated the =Markenfield Chantry=; for the aisle is still called by this
name. Two family tombs remain.
The =South Transept= is slightly narrower than the north. Parts of it were
altered in the Perpendicular period. In the aisle we find the =Mallory
Chapel=, where members of the Studley family are buried. The northern bay
is filled by a stone stairway, at the top of which are two doors. One
opens into a chamber containing the bellows of the organ and the other
into the Lady-Loft, or Library. This stairway was erected by Sir Gilbert
Scott to replace an older one.